This is precisely the kind of stories that has over the years shown me the crooked nature of the EU Commission, the executive organ of the EU. While the Parliament may have some positive function, it has been the Commission that largely upset people, and that thinks ‘administration’ instead of ‘innovation.’

But beyond that and more in detail, first of all Ireland is one of the most corporate-friendly countries in Europe with a very reasonable taxation system. This is why many companies establish their European headquarters there. The corporate taxes are way lower than in Germany or France.

I think Apple should go for litigation in this case. It is absolutely unconstitutional to apply laws retroactively if these laws ask the citizen to pay something, be it only one dollar. As this is the nature of tax laws, they cannot be applied retroactively.

The whole construct of a ‘deal’ between Apple and the Irish government sounds really like a fabricated story. To say that even to non-professionals, it sounds completely unrealistic, and is an insult to the Ireish government! It should be opposed to as such by the Irish government, for it sounds like an accusation of corruption!

In addition, the EU cannot make laws nor can it change national laws because of the principle of national sovereignty. The EU can only make so-called ‘directions’ which are laws on the EU level but these laws do not function as laws within the member states. They function simply as incentives to the respective governments to make laws accordingly—but the member states have no obligation to follow these directions.

The sovereignty the member states have given to the EU is described in much detail in the EEG Treaty of 1957 and its addenda. Beyond that limited range of ‘adjunct sovereignty’ the EU has no general sovereignty. All the sovereignty it has is a ‘derived’ one, one that was granted to it by its constitution (in the sense of the EEG Treaty for a real Constitution in the sense of the term was an illusion fostered by some politicians, but was never enacted because of lacking consensus).

Thus from the information provided in this letter it seems clear to me that the EU Commission arrogates itself a sovereignty that it never had. Besides, it tries to interfere here in the internal national interests of a member state (Ireland) which it has no right to do. Third, it tries to enact or reform tax laws retroactively which is unconstitutional.

Wow. Ireland must be thrilled to be collecting all that money.

Not exactly. The Irish government has said it will appeal the EU ruling, saying the bureaucrats in Brussels have no business telling Dublin how much they should tax companies.

Tax rates are set by individual EU members, not by the European Commission. So Ireland is essentially telling the EU to mind its own business.

As explained, it’s a clear sovereignty issue and I hope that these companies win the law suits against the EU Commission. It is time that the rules are set straight. The EU has a big dream of being a ‘European Government.’ That was indeed the initial idea but this idea was never realized because of lacking consensus between the EU members. I think time has run out for such a dream.

In addition, war and civil war are looming in Europe which will throw the member states back on minding their own business, and national interests. The call for more sovereignty is very clearly on the agenda already, which is a backward-scroll for the entire integration process.

The EU will lose its power then for as I pointed out, the member states are not obligated in any way to follow the EU directions as they do not have the power of ‘law’ within the member states. In other words, the entire ‘EU Business’ depends on the willingness of the member states to follow the EU directions. So, the EU can be blocked simply by ‘status quo’ thinking practiced by the member states. If directions are no more followed, the EU is like a car running in N gear …